Fantasy World

A loud crash woke me up from a pleasant dream. I opened my eyes and saw my light green ceiling. I felt blankets on my flat stomach that I had not fallen asleep with. I felt the texture of my old blue quilt on my dark purple pajama shirt. My 28-year-old brother, Luke, must have placed the quilt on me. He has always been so caring. He took my 16-year-old brother, Alex, and me in when our parents died in a plane crash when I was 5 and Alex was 8. Luke gave up a lot for us and he never stops giving. He is just amazing. I kicked the quilt off and realized the cold air surrounding my bed. I shivered. I saw the lightly falling snow outside my bedroom window. I crossed my arms and grabbed my green jacket from my pink chair. I slipped it on and walked downstairs to the kitchen.

“What was that?” I asked, annoyed.

“Luke dropped some pans. It was hilarious.” Alex explained. I’m Melodie Miracle Anderson. I’m 13 and I live in Joel, Connecticut. I have tan skin and slightly curly brown hair. My two brothers also have brown hair. Our house is pretty big but that’s only because Luke got a job as a dentist. It really sucks because he makes us get a “checkup” like every month. It’s really stupid but at least Alex and I aren’t in foster care.

“What’s Luke doing with pans? He can’t cook.” I replied. Alex chuckled. I sat down next to Alex and watched Luke pick up pans.

“Thanks for your support.” Luke said sarcastically. I smiled at him.

“So seriously, what are you doing with pans?” I asked him.

“Cooking breakfast.” Luke told me.

“Yeah, I’m eating out.” Alex commented. He stood up and walked over to the coat rack by the black front door. He slipped on a black jacket and looked at me.

“Where’d you get so much money?” Luke asked Alex as I started over to the staircase.

“I have a job…sometimes.” Alex explained. I walked up the stairs listening to Luke laugh about Alex constantly getting fired from Peter Piper Pizza.My room was the loft, so I had to climb up a ladder to get to my room. When I got in my room I walked over to my closet and picked out a tight black long sleeve shirt with a hard gray tank top with white polka dots to go over the shirt. I also put on black pants and knee length converses then went back downstairs.

“Ready.” I told Alex as he rolled his eyes at Luke.

“You’re seriously going with him?” Luke asked as I slipped on my jacket.

“Dude, you can’t even make cereal.” I answered as I followed Alex out of the door.

“Be back before you have to go to school.” He told us when we were halfway out of the yard. I rolled my eyes.

“So how are you?” I asked Alex, trying to make conversation.

“Tired.” He yawned.

“I can see that. Why don’t you ever sleep?” I asked.

“I don’t have time.” Alex told me. He yawned again.

“What do you do?” I asked, shocked by his yawning. One more piece of crucial information I must mention. My family has powers. Luke likes to ignore his flying power while Alex uses his water squirting when he can. He can shoot water by clicking his wrists at any pressure he chooses. I, however, don’t have powers. It makes me feel left out but I get over it. Like I was saying, he clicked his wrists and soaked me.

“What was that for?” I asked, shivering.

“I haven’t been doing anything, that’s the point.” Alex sighed.

“So you choose to soak me?” I asked, annoyed. He pulled me into him for warmth. I struggled in his grip without luck.

“Let me go and answer my question!” I exclaimed. He released me.

“You’re too smart.” He mumbled, sliding off his fancy black jacket. He handed it to me.

“Put it on, don’t freeze to death, Luke would kill me.” Alex told me. I obeyed his orders and slid the jacket on over mine.

“I’m fine.” I mumbled.

“Do not freeze.” He demanded.

“Where are we going anyway?” I asked him.

“Wally.” Alex answered.

“What?” I asked, attitude in my voice.

“You heard me.” He said flatly.

“Wally world? Why don’t we just go to a gas station?” I asked sarcastically. I slid off his jacket and threw it to him.

“Put this back on.” He told me, not looking up from the snow covered ground.

“I’m going back home and taking my chances with Luke.” I said, turning away from him. I heard him chuckle a little as he slipped his new jacket back on.

“Have fun.” He muttered.

“I plan to.” I called back. I ran back as an effort to keep warm in my soaked clothes. When I got home I saw Luke on the floor again.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I dropped some eggs.” Luke answered.

“How many?” I asked, going over to turn on the stove. I planned on making the eggs for him.

“About a dozen.” Luke told me.

“You dropped a whole carton of eggs?” I asked, shocked. I put a pan on the stove and cracked a few unbroken eggs in a bowl.

“Yeah.” He said, giving up on the effort to convince me he could cook.

“Yeah, you’re coordinated. So how do you want your eggs?” I asked.

“I don’t care. I have to go to work in a minute anyway.” He answered, sliding a paper plate on the counter next to me. I placed his scrambled eggs on it then got myself a bowl of cereal. I turned off the stove and put the pan in the sink ignoring the hiss it made against the sink walls.

“Alex got mad at me for being smart.” I stated, remembering the moisture that covered my petite body. Luke chuckled.

“He’s jealous.” Luke replied. The front door opened with Alex poking his head in. He had a cinnamon roll in his hand as he grabbed his backpack for school.He said nothing as he went back outside and started walking to his high school.

“Shouldn’t you be getting to school too?” Luke asked me. I shook my head.

“Christmas break.” I replied, just before taking a bite of my Cocoa Puffs.

“Then shouldn’t Alex be on break too?” Luke asked.

“No, my school is more awesome than his.” I answered.

“Let me…” He started. I handed him the phone knowing he would want to call my school. I rolled my eyes and he continued to dial the school’s phone number. I ate as he listened to the recording the school always played during breaks.

“Fine, you win.” He muttered as he clicked off the phone.

“I told you so.” I replied, placing my blue bowl in the sink.

“Well I’m going to work. No parties.” He warned. He was paranoid at the idea of leaving his baby sister alone for a week while he had to work.

“Relax.” I sighed. He left without further word and I was finally home alone. That was until Alex came bursting in the door 15 minutes later.

“Luke is going to kill you.” I sang, not looking up at him.

“Is not.” He sang back. I rolled my eyes.

“Really? Wait until he gets the call at work saying that you’re absent.” I sighed, turning the water off when I finished the dishes.

“He’s not going to get that call. All you have to do is pretend to be his secretary and call the school telling them I have some odd week long condition. Get creative.” He replied. I smiled, still not looking at him.

“Why should I?” I asked.

“Because you love me?” He begged. I laughed a little.

“That’s the worse excuse I’ve ever heard.” I smiled, walking over to the phone. I dialed his school’s number.

“Is this Joel High School?” I asked, using a strong accent that didn’t belong to me.

“Good, I am the secretary of Alex Anderson’s legal guardian. Alex is going to be out for the rest of the week recovering from getting his tonsils taken out. He should be back after Christmas break.” I replied.

“Thank you for your understanding.” I said as the secretary of the school fell for it. I hung up the phone and found myself in the air. Alex had me in an off-the-ground hug.

“You are the best!” He exclaimed.

“PUT ME DOWN!!!” I yelled. He laughed and did as instructed, remembering I hated being lifted.

“You need to stop eating Pixie Sticks for you get too hyper.” I mumbled angrily.

“I hate Pixie-” He started.

“I don’t care!”I muttered. I rolled my eyes and went to the over-sized window in the living room to observe the weather. Alex sat next to me, apologetically. The snow started to flow faster and harder making the ground thickly white.

“It’s dark out there.” Alex observed.

“No really?” I asked sarcastically.

“Really.” Alex smiled. I rolled my eyes once again.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” I asked.

“That’s right. See you.” He replied, getting up and going upstairs to his room. I felt like the big sister instead of the 13-year-old little sister. Alex sometimes got so immaturely hyper. I had no desire to ask him what he was doing I just continued to watch the light snow turn into a snowstorm. I knew already Luke would not be able to get home for a while because of ice. I heard Alex blazing his music upstairs. I smiled a little and turned to face the Christmas tree Luke had bought. It was just standing alone with no gifts underneath. I went into my room and found the two presents that I had bought for Luke and Alex wrapped in my windowsill. I bought Luke a cookbook, because he’s always trying to cook, and I bought Alex an I-Tunes gift card for his musical needs. I danced back downstairs and put them under the tree.

“Going for a walk!” I yelled to Alex, knowing he could not hear me. I slipped on another jacket and went to the snowy outside world. It was much colder than I had hoped but I handled it. I walked toward the forest. When I got to the forest I started jumping to hold on to branches. When I finally held on to one steadily I swung on it and jumped off right into a bush. I heard the sticks in the bush crack and then I walked out of it. I heard more cracking of sticks when I was half way down the path and realized I was not stepping on the sticks.

“Alex, this isn’t funny!” I exclaimed, fright in my voice. More snaps and crunches followed my voice.

“Alex!” I exclaimed. I started running down the path the opposite direction of the way out and the opposite direction of the crackling. I tripped over a log, getting my white jacket wet from the snow. I looked up and saw three rattlesnakes of different colors. The middle one was blue, to the left of him was green and to the right was coal black. I froze with fear at the poisonous snakes 10 feet away from me, hoping they would leave me alone.

The oddest thing you will ever see occurred while I was staring at the trio of snakes. The blue one’s skin fell off and he exploded with a puff of smoke. The other two mimicked the action.

“Alex?” I asked, suddenly desperate for his antics. When the smoke cleared three men stood in the snow path ahead while I stayed in the snow near the log. One had a shiny bald head and was short. The middle one had wild blond hair that hung down to his waist. He was handsome and perfect. The third had a large scar that covered most of his face. He had no hair, just a glass bald head like the first. The middle smiled a bright smile at me, lying in the snow. The two on his sides were glaring at him as if he said something insane during his silence. He didn’t take any interest in their expressions; he just continued to look at me with pleasure. I finally gained the courage to stand up. When I did the two men on the side stepped back, holding on the middle’s arms.

“You seem lost.” The middle said, shaking them off. His voice was shockingly loud as he addressed me. I stood silently in fear.

“Are you?” He inquired. I stepped back a few steps, aware of the log behind me.

“Who are you?” I whispered, barely loud enough for them to hear.

“That was not the question my precious one.” He smiled. The two beside him seemed surprised by his words. I shook my head at his question.

“May we assist you precious one?” The man questioned.

“No sir. Will you answer my question?” I asked still in a whisper.

“I am Gerard. These are my colleagues Yin and Yang. Does that adequately answer your question precious one?” The man asked. I was slightly uncomfortable by him addressing me as “precious one”. HA. Slightly, more like very.

“No sir. Where did you come from?” I inquired, not taking my voice any louder.

“We are shape-shifters of this area precious one. If you are not aware there are many shape-shifters in the area my precious one.” Gerard explained. I bit my tongue in surprise.

“Don’t hurt yourself my precious one.” Gerard warned as I stepped a few more paces back.

“Why don’t you come with us my precious one?” Gerard asked. Yin and Yang let go when they understood. They smiled huge glowing smiles and started to stare at me.

“Why do you call me ‘precious one’?”

“That, my precious one, I shall not answer. You are my precious one, therefore you are precious.” Gerard explained.

“Stay there precious one! Do not follow him!” The same male voice yelled, this time much closer. I was getting used to people addressing me a “precious one”

“Who is that?” I asked. Yin and Yang ran to my sides and grabbed my arms. They lifted me off the ground while they started running.

“Let me go!” I yelled.

“Don’t make our precious one uncomfortable now Yang, Yin.” Gerard demanded, running along side of us. Yang and Yin tightened their grip slightly as I struggled, disobeying Gerard’s orders. Yin let go of me when a man pushed him to the ground. Yang let go as well, as an effort to help his twin. Gerard stopped running to hold me next to him.

“Gerard, let the precious one go.” demanded the man who had pushed Yin into the 4 inches of snow.

“You’re the one who foresaw her coming.” Gerard stated. I tried to pull away from Gerard’s strong grip with no luck.

“I am not a psychic. It was Trevor.” The man said.

“Yes, I’m aware of that. But the rumor’s last leg ended with you. I never thought that Trevor was so talented.” Gerard explained. Yang and Yin darted off into the forest leaving their leader behind.

“Well, Trevor is talented as you know. Let the precious one go, she’ll be no use to you until she’s trained.” The man said.

“She’s rightfully ours, Cameron.” Gerard replied. The man had modern black hair and was slightly shorter than Gerard. His name was obviously Cameron because he was the only other person around.

“I’m not saying she’s not Gerard. I’m just saying that I can train her and then she’s yours.” Cameron bribed.

“I don’t trust you Cameron.” Gerard stated.

“What’s not to trust? I’ve never broken a pact before, why would it matter if it’s the precious one?” Cameron inquired rhetorically.

“Fine Cameron, I’ll give you a month to get her trained. But if you don’t come through on your offer we must go into war.” Gerard stated, loosening his grip. I tried to shake my arm away from him but his grip was still too strong for my weak arms. It was easy to see that Gerard was still uneasy about handing me over to Cameron. My cheeks got cold from the tears freezing in the winter air.

“Let’s not get violent now Gerard. Consider it a deal.” Cameron replied. Gerard let me go.

“What is going on?” I asked, scared. He smiled and released me, trusting me not to run.

“My psychic friend Trevor told me that a precious one would come around. In this forest we have tribes. Shape-shifters, telepathic, flame throwers, psychics, teleports and super strengths. You just happen to be in your own category my precious one.” He explained.

“Ok, I am not your precious one; I am not anyone’s precious one! I’m Melodie Anderson from Joel, Connecticut. I live with my two brothers, Alex and Luke. I am not a precious one! I don’t even know what a precious one is!” I exploded.

“Calm down Melodie. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. You’re going to be fine. A precious one is one who possesses the three or more powers.” Cameron told me.

“What are you talking about? I have no powers. I’m completely normal!” I exclaimed.

“Or so you think.” He finished.

“I’m not going to do this!”

“Do what? We’re just going to go back to your house and I’ll have a discussion with my tribe and then we’ll decide what to do. My precious….Melodie are you cold?” He asked, almost forgetting my preference.

“What does that have to do with anything? I’m not cold. Just take me home and never come back for me.” I said harshly.

“In my sixteen years of life I’ve never heard anyone so unhappy by being wanted in a tribe.” He murmured.

“I don’t care. I want to go home. If you don’t take me ho-”

“Don’t start that now. We’re almost there.” He told me.

“How do you know where I live?” I asked in amazement.

“It’s written on the tag of your jacket.” He smiled. I was ungrateful for my brother’s constant paranoia of me getting lost. He writes my name and address on every backpack and jacket I own in case I get lost one day. It’s so embarrassing.

“Stupid Luke.” I mumbled under my breath. Cameron laughed.

“Yeah brothers, I know what that’s like.” He smiled. I saw my front yard in the distance and I felt so happy to finally be home. I had a days worth of weird events already and I knew at least at home things would be better. My feet were freezing in my frozen socks as we walked through the snow that went a forth of the way up my leg. Cameron lifted me in his arms.

“I know you don’t like being lifted, but I don’t want you to freeze.” Cameron said.

“How did you-” I started.

“Telepathic, remember? That also means I read minds.” He told me.

“Please let me down.” I begged. We were at my front porch then. He did as I instructed and then smiled at me.

“I’ll be back to tomorrow, I have a feeling.” He replied.

“But I thought you were-” I started.

“I’m reading Trevor’s mind right now, you know, the psychic one? No doubt you’ll be psychic. Oh and Alex is furious right now, don’t make him madder.” Cameron explained.

“Well then see you tomorrow.” I answered, walking into the house. Cameron nodded as I shut the door.

“Where were you?” Alex asked who was sitting on the couch.

“Wow, you sound just like Luke.” I said, hanging up both my jackets.

“I would if Luke were here to kill you!” Alex exclaimed.

“Shut up, I told you I was going for a walk.” I replied, going into the kitchen to get a bowl of chicken noodle soup.

“When?” Alex asked me.

“While you were listening to your music.” I answered, filling the bowl with the soup.

“Yeah Melodie, that’s a good idea, tell me important junk while I can’t hear you.” Alex replied sarcastically. I laughed at his sarcasm.

“Sorry.” I smiled. I caught a glimpse of Alex rolling his eyes. I slid the bowl of soup in the microwave and went to sit by Alex.

“So where exactly did you go on your walk?” He asked me.

“Just into the forest.” I muttered.

“Did you break your leg?” He inquired.

“No, why?” I asked suspiciously.

“Because your cheeks are frozen which means you’ve been crying, and you don’t cry very often unless you’re really in pain.” Alex replied.

“I was just freaked out that’s all.” I muttered.

“What happened?” Alex asked as the timer on the microwave went off. I pulled out of the microwave.

“Nothing, it was just fine.” I mumbled.

“Would you make up your mind?” Alex asked, annoyed.

“Sorry.” I replied as I started to eat my soup.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Alex commented.

“Of course not.” I murmured.

“Then what is wrong?” Alex questioned. His question was hard to answer, because I knew Cameron will be mad if I told Alex about it.

“Nothing, I told you, I just got scared.” I answered.

“Fine, if you want to keep that up I’ll stop caring.” He said.

“Aw, thank you.” I replied. I sat next to him with my soup and he rolled his eyes.

“Why do you care where I’ve been anyway?” I asked Alex.

“Luke just called and expected you to answer so when no one did, he left a message saying he was coming home.” Alex sighed. It was the longest sigh I’ve ever heard in my life. I heard Luke’s car door close outside.

“Shouldn’t you be hiding?” I asked Alex, indifferent.

“Nope.” Alex replied.

“But Luke is here.” I told him.

“Oh is he!?!” Alex inquired, urgent. I nodded. Alex ran back upstairs to his room.

“Hey, Melodie…are you ok?” Luke interrogated when he stepped in the door.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked in response.

“You look like you’ve been crying.” Luke replied. I smiled a bit.

“Alex said the same thing. I’m fine.” I answered.

“Alex? When?” Luke inquired.

“Just now.” I answered.

“He’s here?” Luke asked.

“Yeah, he asked me to help him ditch today.” I smiled.

“You two are so grounded.” He commented.

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“You can’t ground me, I’m the innocent one.”

“You just admitted that you helped him. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you to be home alone.”

“Luke, it’s my Christmas break, I won’t help him ditch again. I promise.”

“I know you won’t, because you’ll be going to work with me.”

“What? No!”

“Yes!”

“Just give me one more chance. I promise I’ll do better!

“Fine, one chance, but I’m not going to say the same about Alex.”

“Go ahead, he’s in his room.” I directed.

“Alexander Chance Anderson!” Luke yelled like my dad used to. Luke walked up the stairs to Alex’s room. I heard them yelling about it as I washed my soup bowl. Alex walked down angrily with Luke right behind him.

“Thanks a lot Mel.” He told me, sarcastically. I rolled my eyes.

“Do not leave the house Melodie.” Luke ordered.

“Don’t worry about that I wouldn’t leave this house if it was on fire.” I replied.

“How come she gets off the hook?” Alex asked, as if Luke was his father.

“Because she didn’t ditch school.” Luke answered while he led Alex out the front door. I laughed a bit because it looked like he was a convict changing cells. I sat down on the couch and turned on the television. I put in my Stickman DVD; waiting for some one to come back home so I wouldn’t be so bored. I heard a faint knock on the door. I got up to make sure I was hearing correctly, ignoring the previews. I opened the door and saw Cameron.

“What do you want?” I asked, annoyed. He let himself in.

“We’ve made our decision.” Cameron stated.

“That’s not what I asked.” I replied harshly.

“You’re going to be part of the tribes.” Cameron told me, ignoring my attitude.

“I can’t leave the house-” I started.

“Just ignore Luke! He won’t be back until late anyway.” Cameron explained.

“But Alex will be back from school in a couple hours. He’s totally angry at me and he’ll tell Luke.” I argued.

“Do you want to be Gerard’s precious one? Do you know what he does to precious ones? He locks them in a steel room for observation and if they act up he gets Yang to burn them!” Cameron exclaimed.

“Yang’s also a flamethrower, yes.” Cameron explained when I was about to open my mouth to speak.

“What if I don’t want to be the precious one?” I asked.

“Too bad, that’s how you were born and you can’t just ignore it.” Cameron told me.

“Why do I have to do this?” I inquired, unhappily.

“Because you can save our tribes, Gerard is the bad guy here, not me.” He explained.

“I know, I know. I just really don’t want to be the hero.”

“You’re not the hero; you’re the princess that gets to save her kingdom.”

“Yeah, that’s a privilege.” I shot back sarcastically. “Anyway, I am not a princess.”

“Being a precious one is just like being a princess.”

“I don’t want to save anyone. I’m thirteen-years-old for crying out loud! I’m not ready to be a precious one.” I commented.

“That’s the problem, when you’re thirteen it’s a sign that you’re ready, we have a month of training to get through and then you’ll be ready.”

“Ready?”

“Ready to run Gerard and Yin-Yang twins out of our territory.”

“Why can’t you find another precious one to do this?”

“There’s only one precious one this year. Please help us Melodie.”

“Please don’t beg.”

“Sorry. You have to help us though. You’re the precious one. It’s your duty.”

“No, my only duty is to have a nice long Christmas break.”

“Melodie we need your help to get our territory back. You owe us for keeping you alive this long and now we need your help. You’re the precious one. Come on Melodie, please?” Cameron begged. I held my forehead in distress, trying to see if he could read my mind screaming.

“No! No! No!” He seemed not to notice. He still had the pleading look on his handsome face.

“What do you mean I owe you?” I asked.

“Usually when we find people born out of our territory with gifts we must annihilate them. We make pacts with the other tribes to see if we shall keep them alive. Melodie we need your help!” Cameron pleaded.

“I can’t do this.” I whispered. He put a hand on my shoulder.

“You can do anything.” He whispered in my ear.

“One month. But if I decide I don’t like I get to leave whenever a please.” I commented.

“You’re just saying that because you want to leave on the first day.” He told me.

“Stupid mind-reading powers, fine. I’ll give it a week and then I get to decide if I’ll stay.” I replied. He was silent for a while.

“Good.” He smiled. I knew immediately that he was reading Trevor’s psychic mind. I rolled my eyes in response.